Q&A: Hasbro Questions with Hasbro from Celebration VI, Part C: The Final Chapter

By Adam Pawlus — Sunday, September 9, 2012

This week, the final round of your questions for Hasbro at Celebration VI! Next week, back to me making up stuff, this week the answers come from Hasbro in Orlando, and a big thanks to them for putting up with my and my nonsense! As an added bonus, the end has hands-on impressions of Toys R Us' new Speeder Bike. It's worth the asking price. Read on!

1. Might we finally see a female Mon Calamari Dancer figure in time for ROTS 3D?--Rory

Hasbro said that this one was a close cut in the line list several times, due to the lack of available slots for this kind of character she keeps getting cut.

2. Will AdiGallia be getting any figure love in the planned future? How about Ann/TannGella?--Greig

I neglected to ask about AdiGallia (sorry!) but Hasbro said that Ann and TannGella are frequently close, on-the-bubble releases that keep not making it to the final line plan from the oft-discussed parking lot.

3. My question for Hasbro or you is, with the diorama workshop getting ever more popular and even having a customising panel at this years celebration are they planning on getting in on this with any customisation kits. By this I mean things like an X-Wing decal pack for the various pilots. I'm not expecting Hasbro to release Porkin's Red 6 X-Wing but we currently have a ton of pilots without X-Wings (Biggs, John Brannon etc). A pack of stripes in with their next X-Wing release could address this. Also the possibility of bringing back environment pieces to the single figure packs? Or even completely separate accessory only packs? I eagerly await your thoughts and reply.--Rogue82

The Hasbro team said that their feeling that paint is overall better than stickers, so this approach is not something they are looking to do at this time as paint gives the ships a much better overall look. (Comparing the 1995 and 1998 X-Wings to the ones we got in 2009 and 2011, I can't disagree.)

At the panel, they also indicated yet another new deco X-wing in a vintage box is coming and teased that they did not reveal which character's vehicle this would be. Since they also mentioned the new Porkins is thinner so he can fit in an X-Wing, I know where I'd place my bet, but this is wild speculation on my part which works as padding for the answer and you shouldn't read too much into it.

4. In the GH summary of SDCC there was small mentioning of the Comic Packs being discussed to bring back. Can Hasbro elaborate further?--Tim

Were there? Hunh. Anyway, I asked Hasbro and they said there are no plans to bring them back at this time, but that they do like the format a bunch. It's just not happening right now.

5. Will there be more than 3 of the new, smaller Class II vehicles revealed at Celebration VI (Slave I, Jedi Starfighter, Fighter Tank)?--AP

Hasbro confirmed there were more coming in 2013 but did not specify which ones.

FIN

And we are done! Thanks for submitting questions, everybody, as some were answered I had to come up with new ones on the fly at the show. Also a big thanks to Derryl, Brian, and Mark from Hasbro for answering these questions in what was basically a lightning-bonus-round fashion... long story. We appreciate their ability to listen quickly and answer even faster! (And we hope they're cool with the fact I wrote sloppy notes that removed the nuance from the answers. And that they basically did my work in this column for three weeks. I'll take it as an earth birthday present. Thanks guys!)

I got the new Speeder Bike last week and it's one of those weird things that's both awesome and sort of a letdown, simply because it isn't magic. For $22 you get your money's worth. The new Scout Trooper has legs with that quasi-balljoint movement which works well for standing and even better for straddling the bike, and a whopping two Biker Scout pistols. Why? I have no idea. The vehicle lacks the nifty decals of the 1995-1998 releases, but it does have an optional, removable grey plastic kickstand, a two-piece clear stand which makes it look like it's hovering, and a confusing-but-welcome tripod cannon which serves as a stand-alone accessory or as something you can plug on to the bottom of the vehicle.

The figure itself does indeed have the holster for a blaster, so he can wear one while firing another. More surprisingly, he has a sort of a double-jointed neck similar to some Masters of the Universe Classics figures to allow the head to lean forward while being posed on the bike. As I constantly whine about figures and vehicles not being compatible, this one was clearly made to look pretty much perfect. The figure has a good sculpt and an excellent range of movement, so there's really no problem plugging him on to the bike, or having the bike stand, or look like it's hovering.

For bang for the buck, the vehicle mostly delivers. The wallet-memory of $10 Speeder Bikes remains, so it still hurts a bit given the last time I remember buying an Endor Speeder Bike at Toys R Us, it was 2004 and included like 4 figures for the same price. Oh, inflation. The deco on the bike is improved and in the era of $10 Vintage figures, a $22 Speeder Bike is reasonable. Especially when you futz around with it. It's not much of a toy, but as a display piece I cannot imagine a better piece. Get one, you won't be sorry. If you want a video if it, leave some comments and I'll put it on deck. (Seriously, that's all it takes. Like three people ask, I'll probably make a video.)

If you look at our front page, you'll see Fighter Pods Series 3 is out and we posted some videos over my findings so far, plus a checklist. This is the most repaint-heavy and resculpted character-bedecked series yet, but it's still pretty neat. I've had it with holo figures, I think, but those blue ones are pretty gorgeous. If you want to see all our new Fighter Pods coverage, and I think that you do, just click here.